Chainsaw Man Celebrates 200 Chapters With a Sobering Look at Denji’s Toxic New Girlfriend

The following contains spoilers for Chainsaw Man Chapter 200, “Toxic Couple”.

Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man has hit a new milestone, and with it comes an excellent reflection of how far Denji and Asa have come. While they don’t always act how everyone would want them to, Fujimoto’s characters continue to be some of the most well-crafted in manga, flaws and all. It’s Denji’s flaws that have made him such a joy to follow for the past 200 chapters, and Chainsaw Man Chapter 200, “Toxic Couple”, serves as a reminder that it’s actually his flaws that made Chainsaw Man the international anime icon he is. Chainsaw Man Part 2 is reaching its climax in a surprising way, as the Death Devil has finally appeared – only to reveal that she has really been there the entire time.

With “Fami” confirming she was actually the death Devil in Chapter 198, Chapter 199 went on to further clarify her deepest motivations. After taking the real Famine Devil and the Fake Chainsaw Man under her control as minions, Death ordered them to wreak havoc on humanity as part of her grand plan. Chainsaw Man 200 bring Denji, Asa and Yoru back to the forefront, as their own — apparently more simplistic — plans of having fun amid the end of the world are challenged. Chainsaw Man Chapter 200 serves as a snapshot of the current state of Fujimoto’s groundbreaking hit manga, for all its beautifully flawed characters and artistic character flaws.

Asa Shows Genuine Character Development in Chainsaw Man 200, But It Might Not Bode Well For Her

Yoru May Have Finally Won the Psychological Battle Against Her Reluctant Host

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In most shonen manga series, the character development of the main cast of heroes is usually about them growing stronger physically or emotionally, learning to be more courageous, and just becoming generally respectable people who the audience can look up to. That is far from the case in Chainsaw Man. Instead, characters like Denji and Asa show clear growth based on the experiences they go through, but it’s not always in a linearly “positive” direction. They learn lessons and try to apply them to their lives, but the lessons they learn and how they choose to go about learning from their mistakes can sometimes leave them even worse-off than where they started.

One of the most infamous examples of this in Chainsaw Man Part 1 was when Denji learned that he was better off being a dog and leaving all his thinking up to Makima, because he always made the wrong decisions. This moment of “growth” for Denji was in the complete wrong direction, and it led to his lowest point in the manga. In Chainsaw Man Chapter 200, a dark reflection of this seems to have emerged by way of Asa, whose own personal development has led her to embrace a potentially harmful ideology. Asa has always been the one between she and Yoru who played the role of the good conscience. She’s the one who tried to convince Denji not to attend Katana Man’s brothel, and she’s also the one who tried to talk Yoru out of killing Chainsaw Man. Despite her well-documented narcissism, Asa has always had a relatively strong sense of justice.

You were right Denji. I should only do fun things. I don’t have to think about the unpleasant things.

— Asa

As of Chainsaw Man 200, however, she has apparently thrown that all away. As she tells Denji, she has effectively given up wanting to save the world, and has instead embraced a philosophy of living in the moment in the sole interest of having fun. Asa is not completely oblivious to how foolish her decision is, though. As Asa acknowledges (in such an overly-edgy way that even Denji winces), she is “a toxic woman now.”

She even compares herself to the toxic additives in convenience store food, which — while clearly meant as a joke on Asa’s ridiculously over-dramatic personality – is actually an excellent metaphor on Fujimoto’s part. Convenience store food tastes good in the short term and provides an immediate pleasure response, but the toxic ingredients in it will eventually come back to hurt a person in the long run. This mirrors Asa’s conclusion in Chapter 200 that she “should only do fun things”.

In the short term, avoiding thinking about the bigger problems will help her avoid pain, but it could very well just lead to an even worse situation down the line. This is the “toxic” ideology Asa has forced herself to embrace in a desperate attempt to find happiness amid an overwhelmingly bad situation. Just like how Denji just wanted to be happy with Makima, Asa just wants her own happiness after all that has happened to her. In both cases, only terror awaits. This has been a major theme of the current arc, as of the real Famine Devil’s arrival. The Famine Devil is someone who strongly feels the pain of humanity, and would seek to rescue human beings no matter the short-term cost.

In contrast, her classmates in school pleaded with Famine to stop talking about the depressing events going on around them, because school was their only escape from the harsh reality. This theme is an important one which Fujimoto has been exploring the positives and negatives of with impressive nuance. When Famine’s classmate begs Famine to just help him out by offering him a smile, it’s hard not to empathize with him. On the other hand, when Asa tosses everything aside in the interest of having fun, it’s clear how just avoiding the problems of the world can be toxic in itself.

Denji’s Clash of Ideals With Fakesaw Man in Chapter 200 is Important For Both Characters

Chainsaw Man 200’s Fight is Intense, But The Art is Feeling The Weight of 200 Chapters

When Fami created the Chainsaw Man Church and made Chainsaw Man the object of worship for thousands of people, it fundamentally seperated who Chainsaw Man really was – a Devil Hybrid of the Chainsaw Devil and a broke young man – from who humanity needed him be — the solitary Devil from Hell who rose up to protect all mankind. The disconnect between who Fakesaw Man perceives Chainsaw Man should be, and who Denji actually is, makes for an intriguing plot thread to follow as of Chainsaw Man 200. Fakesaw Man, like the other fake Chainsaw Men created by the Fire Devil’s contract, took his current form due to the ideal he had in his mind of who Chainsaw Man is supposed to be. No one in the Chainsaw Man Church actually praised the real Denji, just the idealized version of him they needed to create to support Fami’s goal of making him someone worthy of their worship.

This separation between reality and belief comes to the forefront when Fakesaw Man finally confronts Denji under the orders of the Death Devil in Chapter 200. As Fakesaw Man questions whether Chainsaw Man should be “riding a bicycle with a girl” or “flirting with a girl”, Fujimoto highlights the ridiculousness of idolizing a person, because who they are in real life is never who the fan wants them to be in their idealized image of them. Denji is easily one of the most flawed heroes in shonen manga history, so him being viewed as a divine hero by the Chainsaw Man Church was always bound to be exposed as the joke it is.

Should Chainsaw Man be riding a bicycle with a girl? Should the solitary warrior from Hell… be flirting with a girl?

— Fakesaw Man

Seeing how Fakesaw Man will confront the reality of his idol and how he’ll deal with the inevitable disillusionment of who Denji really is makes for a great underlying plot thread, even as the big showdown gets underway. Interesting narrative implications aside, the fight between Denji and Fakesaw Man has already gotten off to a dramatic start in CSM Chapter 200. Unlike Fakesaw’s fight against Famine in Chapter 198, which was a comparatively anticlimactic conflict, Fakesaw vs Chainsaw is already shaping up to be far grander in scale. As Yoru’s bullets crash into the building behind Fakesaw, leaving its rubble raining down on the battlefield, it finally feels like the action is truly ramping up again.

Chainsaw Man 200 has some great panels that capture the intensity of the combat, including an awesome half-page panel of Fakesaw blocking Yoru’s bullet on page 10, and another of Denji slicing off Fakesaw’s arm with battle-tested precision on page 14. Even before the fighting commences, a particularly creative panel during Asa’s conversation with Denji depicts her text bubble covering Denji’s face, subtly showcasing how she has already dissociated from her potential for a relationship with him.

That said, the art doesn’t always hit with that same force throughout the chapter. There are panels like the top left panel of page 12, which – while depicting a great cinematic angle of Fakesaw Man dragging his Chainsaw arm across the ground – are almost difficult to make out at first glance. It doesn’t help that Fakesaw himself has a very complicated design full of fleshy mounds connecting in unnatural ways. The more questionable pieces of art are never so distracting as to take away from the enjoyment of the chapter, but they’re a far cry from the impressive creativity in many of Part 1’s comparable combat sequences.

Chainsaw Man’s 200th Chapter is a Great Moment of Reflection for the Manga

CSM 200 Holds a Mirror to the Series and Its Characters

Considering the Famine Devil shouldn’t be close behind Fakesaw as one of Death’s minions, fans could very well be treated to an epic 2v2 matchup pitting Denji and Yoru against Fakesaw and Famine in the upcoming Chainsaw Man Chapter 201. While Famine seemed weak in her first fight, she’s still a Horseman of the Apocalypse. Fans haven’t gotten to see her fighting to her true potential using all her Devil Powers yet.

Most interesting of all is that Denji and Yoru are technically the villains of the series at this point. It’s really the Death Devil who apparently plans to save the world, while Denji is an active accomplice to War — whose own plan was already confirmed by Asa to be far worse than Death. Fujimoto is doing a great job of showing how dating the wrong person can lead a person down the wrong path, and that’s just as much the case for the hero of a shonen manga series as it is for anyone.

Between Asa’s new toxic revelation, and Denji’s battle with the idealized image of himself, Chainsaw Man Chapter 200 is full of beautiful emergent themes that make it a fitting milestone chapter for Fujimoto’s manga. As of Chainsaw Man Chapter 200, it’s probably fair to say that Denji officially has a girlfriend now, and that relationship is anything but healthy. Fans have watched as Denji stumbled through life with the idea of just hugging a girl seeming like a distant and unreachable dream, so seeing him becoming so close to Yoru 200 chapters later is somehow heartwarming – even if she is the most detestable Devil of all with a secret plan to subject humanity to a fate even worse than Death.

That ain’t my backstory bub!

— Denji

As Fakesaw Man questions Denji about the “mistake” he has made, it seems obvious that Denji will have to contend with the fact that he is choosing to join forces with the villain over being the superhero he sought to be. Considering Denji has admitted that he only ever became Chainsaw Man to impress women to begin with, it seems that he has achieved his goal — for better or worse. Chainsaw Man Chapter 200, “Toxic Couple”, provides a perfect moment to look back at how far both Denji and the overall series has come, for all its good and bad. The art of the latter portion of Part 2 is a noticeable fall-off at this point from where it was in even the beginning of Part 2. On the other hand, the character writing as of Chapter 200 is Fujimoto at his absolute best, with both Denji and Asa’s respective arcs coming to vital points.

Chainsaw Man has come into its own over the course of the past 200 chapters, and it’s only getting more intense on pretty much every front. With characters who are even deeper and more fleshed out than those of Part 1, Chainsaw Man Part 2 seems to be on the verge of something historic, and it only took 200 chapters to get there. Chainsaw Man’s 200th chapter releasing on National Anime day is particularly fitting. After all, Chainsaw Man continues to lead the charge in innovative storytelling in the anime and manga mediums, making CSM 200 a particularly special chapter to celebrate for anyone who appreciates Japanese art and storytelling.

Chainsaw Man is currently available to read via Viz Media.

• Art is hit or miss in some panels